Stand barefoot at the counter with a coffee and you notice the floor first: a colourful, patterned Deja runner makes the kitchen feel complete. This hallway runner is flat woven, so it lies flat and keeps to the floor. Where a hall is long or has a few corners, two matching runners look better than one stretched thin. Need a different length? Pick the length that leaves some floor at each end.

Here the pile is 100% polypropylene on a jute backing, machine woven. That suits a kitchen rug, and because the yarn is synthetic it is also an outdoor rug for a covered terrace. On underfloor heating it lies happily, though the fibre dislikes heat, so keep hot pans and irons away from it. The same colourful Deja design comes as a rectangular or a round rug, all in synthetic fibre, and in this long shape it makes a handy kitchen runner.

Polypropylene takes in almost no water, so a spill sits on the surface for a while and you can blot it at leisure. Then, as our notes on looking after your rug suggest, go over the spot with diluted mild soap, dab with clean water, and brush up the flattened pile.